Game Preservation Society

Comment soutenir nos amis de la Game Preservation Society au Japon Il y a deux semaines, nous avons relayé sur nos réseaux sociaux un article de Time Extension évoquant les grandes difficultés de la Game Preservation Society, une association (...)

Nous revenons sur les grandes difficultés que rencontre actuellement la Game Preservation Society @gamepresint.bsky.social, l'association la plus importante pour la préservation du jeu vidéo au Japon... mag.mo5.com/269708/comme...

Tomohiro Nishikado On Making 'Space Invaders' And What Makes Games Fun "Younger people who want to make games should play really old games"

“Younger people who want to make games should play really old games. They may not have good graphics, but there is something shining within them". (Image: @TAITO) (Repost)

Japan's Game Preservation Society Is Safe For Now, And It's All Thanks To You A message from GPS founder Joseph Redon

Japan's Game Preservation Society Is Safe For Now, And It's All Thanks To You. (Image: @gamepresintl)

We've seen your requests for anonymous donations to the GPS and we are thrilled to announce that we now have a donation page! For those who cannot join as a supporting member, please use the link or QR code below to donate directly to the GPS via Stripe:

donate.stripe.com/7sI03sb9j3w7...

Thank you again to all who support not just the GPS but all preservation organizations around the world!

And if you would like to help us out, you can join as a supporting member here. It is an annual fee that can be made in a lump sum or by monthly installments.

www.gamepres.org/en/support/

In fact, we have actually seen a surge of support in the short time since the article was published, so a huge, huge thank you to everyone who has joined as a member! Welcome! Go check out all the past newsletters!

www.gamepres.org/en/media/con...

In summary, we are aware we have some problems and are looking to solve them to make membership more appealing. The immediate issue of funding past September is one that we feel can be solved with a small push, so we are grateful for the attention that Time Extension has brought.

Moreover, we have known for quite some time that a new GPS website is in order. Partly for fixes to the layout, but more importantly we need to bring the remaining Japanese-only content to the English version. This is actually a high priority for us.

Game Preservation Society We are a Nonprofit Organization formed by volunteers who possess professional skills and knowledge in the preservation of games.

Our documentary series focusing on unsung Japanese developers, Geimu, was published to YouTube in order to reach a larger audience, as that platform is the de facto standard for reaching new people with content.

www.youtube.com/@gamepresorg

Join the GPS: Game Preservation Society Discord Server! This is the Game Preservation Society in Tokyo, Japan. We are a registered non-profit organization. | 262 members

Primarily, as mentioned earlier, we opened a Discord server a couple years ago for our international audience, partly to address the communication problem but also to use a more modern and popular platform.

discord.gg/eTkEScEFFf

We have come to understand that this is simply not enough for our international audience, however, and we have made some early progress in trying to appeal to those outside Japan with more modern platforms.

But I think there is a cultural divide here. Japan, despite the stereotype of being ultra-modern, is actually quite conservative, and change comes pretty slowly here. Our Japanese members are, by and large, content with a newsletter.

It also contains in-depth information on work that we do, spotlights on Japanese game developers as honorary members, and articles on niche retro-gaming topics. The content is great!

Well, the primary use of the newsletter is to publish our annual financial statement, which is a requirement as a non-profit organization. It also shows in great detail how much money we bring in and how it is spent in our work.

Another theme in the comments is the archaic methods and presentation of the GPS. Awkward website with less than perfect English? A newsletter? PDF downloads? In 2025?!

We have also considered Patreon-style exclusive blog posts on topics like updates on our current projects or technical commentary.

These are still considerations at this point, however. We would love to hear your suggestions on how the GPS can raise the value of a membership.

Tying back to the issue of communication, we have considered running monthly livestreams where we showcase a rare item, or host a Q&A session, or do a playthrough of a Japanese game that is less well-known to the west. These would be open to supporting members.

The cold, hard fact is that we simply cannot distribute copyrighted material in any way due to the laws of Japan. Yes, this even includes scans of packaging at a respectable resolution. There is no getting around this. So what can we do?

But we are also well aware that some preservation groups around the world offer downloads of rare or unreleased games, or scans of magazines, and so on. We are aware that, to many, there is greater perceived "value" in supporting these other groups.

The blunt answer is that the rewards are limited: access to past newsletters and priority reservations to our annual Summer events in Tokyo. And, of course, the knowledge that you are making a difference by supporting an important cause.

The comments on the article also mentioned another long-running sticking point with our international audience. That is, what do you, the supporting member, get in return for your annual payment?

The solution is to recruit more international staff, something we have long discussed. We encourage anyone interested in assisting with our social media presence and content creation to contact us, but it must be stressed that such a role would be a *volunteer* position.

There are a variety of reasons for this, but none are really a valid excuse. A group like the GPS needs attentive representation and our international members deserve more communication.

As the article states, there are only two English speakers among the core members, and only one who is native (that's me, Damian! Hi!). While we had a pretty active twitter account at first, the account has largely fallen silent in the last couple years.
x.com/gamepresintl...

But we must also acknowledge our shortcomings if we hope to gain more support. Chief among those is our lack of communication with our international audience.

All we need to keep our current activities going is approximately $1,000 USD per month. This is a small sum in the grand scheme of things and just a few hundred supporting members from around the entire world with an annual donation would easily cover this.

Without the means to keep the GPS headquarters and its archive up and running, there is a serious risk to losing this precious collection. In our most recent English newsletter, we discussed the importance of our headquarters:

www.gamepres.org/en/media/con...

The costs of preservation are not just in purchasing rare games in a market where retro game prices have skyrocketed, but in maintaining the archive of those games. The GPS stores all game materials in purpose-made containers, in climate controlled rooms.

The GPS is the only group in Japan doing this sort of comprehensive preservation work. Much has been accomplished in the 10+ years of our operation, it would be disastrous for the state of Japanese game preservation if the group were to disappear.